Northwest NEWS

October 29, 2001

Volunteers enhance Cold Creek Park habitat

"We're planting some trees!" announced organizer, Terry Lavender, to an assembled group of 50 volunteers at Cold Creek Natural Resource Area.
Funded by King County and sponsored by Water Tenders in a unique partnership with King County Parks Department, there were more than 500 trees and shrubs to be planted on a hill overlooking the former blueberry farm.
Volunteers met at Cottage Lake Park and were shuttled over to the planting area and given shovels and wheelbarrows for collecting mulch.
The funding for the project came from a Habitat Restoration grant coordinated by Councilmember Louise Miller with the Bear Creek Water Tenders. Lavender arranged to have landscaper Brian Bodenbach acquire appropriate native vegetative cover for the site.
Bodenbach chose to include grand fir, western red cedar and hemlock, white pine, along with various shrubs such as twinberry, blue elderberry and dogwood. He divided the area into 10 sections and laid out all the plants so that the volunteers could plant them in the marked spots.
Parks representatives Connie Blumen, Tina Miller, Chris Mayo, and Kathleen Rismoen were on hand to assist. Ray Heller, Bear Creek Basin Steward coordinated several planting teams which included children, and educated them on the plants and how they should be planted.
The purpose of the restoration project was to replace forest cover lost to human development.
"Bear Creek is beginning to see some of the effects of loss of forest cover," said Lavender."The measured flood peaks are higher, summer water temperatures are higher and summer flows are lower ... We have many opportunities to replant forest on some of the properties purchased in the Waterways 2000 program. We can also return areas of our property to native shrubs and trees. All of this will help hold that delicate balance in our watershed that allows us to live here and share it with the salmon that return each fall."
The volunteers worked very hard, and stopped for a picnic lunch provided by Willard and Vera West.
The Water Tenders have worked to enhance our ecosystem for many years. Long time members Judy Westall, Mary Filkins, Dick Schatzle and Juanita Verschuyl really appreciated the extra help from newer volunteers who showed up to assist in this very worthwhile project.